FRANKFORD (KYW Newsradio) – An affordable housing unit for veterans in Frankford is being forced to rebuild as Northeast Detectives investigate an arson that happened there back in December. While no one was hurt, residents are still shaken up.
Police say the fire started just after 4 p.m. on Dec. 28 at Veterans Village, on the corner of Duffield and Pratt streets in Frankford. The flames were quickly extinguished, but the same can’t be said for the headaches of residents. A resident, who wished to remain anonymous, was with her seven-month-old infant when alarms went off.
“Our fire alarm flashed until the next day because nobody came and turned it off,” she said. “We faced a lot of water damage, mold, things like that. And it was just noisy.”
Board President Dana Spain, said that just because no one was physically hurt doesn’t mean they came out unscathed.
“A lot of our residents suffer from PTSD, and to have fire alarms and sprinklers go off is a very triggering event,” she explained.
The unnamed mother said the incident involved a resident who had caused disturbances in the past.
“He’s still here so it’s like, will another incident happen? Will another incident not happen?” she said. “What are you guys gonna do to protect us to ensure another incident doesn’t happen?”
She was told the resident in question has a move-out date set. Since the incident, Spain said Veterans Village has brought on a security patrol, ordered a new locked gate, and installed more cameras. She added that their current surveillance system caught two suspects breaking in and setting the fire.
Northeast Detectives are investigating the incident.
Spain said the insurance estimates repairs could cost six figures to fix the water damage caused by the sprinklers.
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